Jackie Chan - Robin B Hood Review

You have to admire Jackie Chan for not turning his back on his homeland for a Hollywood career. For every film he makes in the US he returns to Hong Kong to make two or three movies in between. The creative freedom this allows means he is able to make more personal films at home giving him more control to try different genres and not have to follow the ‘fish-out-of-water’ clichés that have become his Hollywood signature. ‘Robin B Hood’, released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray this month, is a great example of how much Jackie Chan’s Hong Kong output differs from his films overseas. Taking on the roles of co-writer, producer, action director, leading man as well as singing the theme song over the closing credits he has an obvious passion for his art.

Chan stars as Thongs, a burglar and skilled safe cracker working with his partners in crime Landlord, played by veteran Hong Kong comic and Chan’s co-star from ‘The Cannonball Run’ Michael Hui, and Octopus, ‘Flash Point’ star Louis Koo. When they accept a mission to kidnap a cute baby for an eccentric underworld tycoon their lives are turned upside down. Instantly the hardened criminals become matronly protectors of their young charge forcing them to take stock of their own lives, discovering their consciences and realising that perhaps the safety of the child is worth more than their biggest payday to date.

The film, made in 2006 a year before ‘Rush Hour 3’ finally reaches these shores presumably to cash in on the release of Ridley Scott’s ‘Robin Hood’. Aside from the film’s title it bears no resemblance to any tale of the Nottingham based outlaw. The only connection is that Jackie Chan’s character is a burglar with a heart, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, his own family living in squalor. The film is more like a Hong Kong re-working of the 1987 hit ‘Three Men and a Baby’ with a strong emphasis on the comedy.

If you are a fan of Jackie Chan but have only seen his Hollywood movies you may have a hard time with this film. It is probably closest in style to 1999’s ‘Gorgeous’, predominantly a love story with a couple of fight scenes and action sequences thrown in to keep the martial arts fans happy. Having said that ‘Robin B Hood’ does not disappoint in the action stakes, there are a number of very well executed stunt scenes, the stand-out sequence being a car chase with the baby’s pushchair hooked up to a truck with Jackie and his team in hot pursuit, ending with a jaw-dropping stunt from Chan shown several times from differing angles. The climax of the film sees Chan dodging a speeding rollercoaster while holding the baby and at one point has him hanging from the track as the cars thunder overhead. Visual effects place the baby right in the midst of the action and work surprisingly well.

Jackie Chan has made no secret of his admiration for Buster Keaton so it comes as no surprise that he incorporates the slapstick style into his work here. What does come as a surprise, however, is how broad the comedy is throughout the film, graphic toilet humour involving soiled nappies and enough ‘Gay’ jokes to make Adam Sandler envious. During a comedy montage we are treated to the sight of the baby trying to breastfeed on Jackie Chan’s nipples and a baby in the washing machine routine. At the end of the day ‘Robin B Hood’ is a comedy and while it may not be the most original and some of the humour may be lost on a Western audience, it certainly has enough amusing moments to be a success.

The baby at the centre of the film contributes to the majority of the comedic set-ups but it also provides a deep emotional core to the film. The baby is responsible for turning the trio of kidnappers into paternal carers over the course of the movie making them go to extraordinary lengths to protect the child. Jackie Chan taps into an unseen acting ability and allows his character to break down, shedding tears in a couple of emotionally charged scenes. It is quite unusual to see Chan so vulnerable when he has spent most of his career showing how unbreakable and tough he can be.

As always the film ends with an outtake reel and once again proves that Jackie Chan will put himself in all kinds of danger to get a perfect take. At the age of 51 during the making of this film he was seriously injured when a stuntman wearing the wrong kind of shoes accidentally kicked him in the chest damaging cartilage, an injury that still affected him when he was hit by a table in the same place a few months later while filming ‘Rush Hour 3’. During the outtake reel we hear the crew begging with him to go to hospital for an x-ray following the mishap.

The film is released by Cine Asia on two-disc DVD and single disc Blu-ray with a widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 which differs from the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. This proves a little annoying in places as the image is obviously cropped and losing information in a number of scenes. There is also a choice of the original Cantonese soundtrack with English subtitles or an English dubbed track. I personally would advise that you avoid the dubbed version. Even though dubbing has improved since the early days of the Martial Arts movie, they still seem to insist on using mostly inappropriate American voices and even have an American doing a bad Jackie Chan impression for Chan’s character.

There are no shortage of extra features on this Ultimate Edition, probably the most interesting of which is ‘Crashing The Hood’, an extended interview with Jackie Chan. Conducted in English, he discusses his frustration at being perceived only as an action star internationally and that he wanted to change public expectations by taking on different roles, even going to extent of setting up his own production company to make more personal projects. He also talks about his reluctance to keep making sequels to his most popular films and his enthusiasm for fresh ideas. In ‘The Hand That Mocks The Cradle’, director Benny Chan, who previously directed Jackie Chan in ‘Who Am I’ and ‘New Police Story’, reveals the origins of the screenplay. More interviews and behind the scenes footage continue in ‘Baby Boomer’, ‘Playtime For Adults’ and ‘Robin B Hood: An Original Making Of’ all totalling up to a running time of 110 minutes of additional content.

Initially I was unsure what to think of ‘Robin B Hood’, I generally prefer Jackie Chan in his action roles and while those films usually have an element of humour, the idea of him branching out more into comedy than action was worrying. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the film and found much to enjoy, it was at least a lot better than his recent Hollywood output, ‘The Spy Next Door’.

Phobia Review

Anthology movies have a rather chequered past throughout the history of cinema. For every ‘Sin City’ there is a ‘Four Rooms’. More often than not the anthology is an excuse for a group of directors to produce a self indulgent work that rarely finds an audience. Thankfully the horror genre is one of the few genres where the anthology movie can actually work quite well. ‘Twilight Zone: The Movie’, ‘Creepshow’ and ‘Tales From The Crypt’ made in the Seventies and Eighties set a standard for the kind of episodic short story compendium well suited to the horror genre. The short story form appeals to filmmakers where budget constraints and time may be a factor as most feature a single event or incident, have a small number of characters and often take place in one location. The latest horror anthology to come from Thailand follows the format but does it really work?

‘Phobia’, (also known as ‘4bia’) is a four part compendium of horror short stories from four of Thailand’s hottest new directors. Paween Purikitpanya, Yongyoot Thongkongtoon and the co-directing team responsible for the acclaimed ‘Shutter’, Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom join together to offer their take on the horror anthology. Originally made in 2008, this Thai shocker finally gets a DVD release in the UK on the 10^th of May.

Opening with a suitably blood soaked title sequence the film is split into four very loosely connected stories of fear, fear of being alone, fear of “things that go bump in the night”, as the trailer puts it, fear of the dead and fear of reprisal. The film begins with ‘Happiness’ (which actually means lonely when translated), directed by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon. It is quite a brave choice to open the film with a 26 minute dialogue free scene set entirely within the confines of the lead teenage girl’s apartment. Housebound due to injuries received in a taxi accident her only connection to the outside world is via her mobile phone. Her evening starts to look promising when she begins receiving friendly text messages from a mysterious boy. However things take a turn for the worse when it becomes apparent that the texts may be being sent from beyond the grave. A sort of cross between Drew Barrymore’s opening scene in ‘Scream’ and ‘When A Stranger Calls’ or When A Stranger Texts as it is in this case, the story builds the tension well and slowly develops the idea that the mysterious messages may be more sinister than friendly. It does not have the same shock factor as ‘Scream’ as it basically follows the same structure of that scene so when the reveal that the stranger may already be in the house finally comes, it seems a little clichéd and unsurprising. ‘Happiness’ does not really grab the attention in a way that the first story in an anthology probably should although it is a lot better than the one that follows.

‘Tit For Tat’, directed by Paween Purikitpanya is a tale of revenge and black magic. Based on a comic book from the writer of Thai horror ‘Body’ it features a group of school bullies facing bloody retribution when their latest victim places a terrifying curse from which there is no escape. This feels a bit like ‘Final Destination’ meets ‘The Omen’, the bullies are picked off one by one in a series of gory accidents. Unfortunately these death scenes lack any kind of invention or originality so I did not find them that engaging. With such a short running time very little time is spent on characterisation so there is no chance to get to know the characters making their demise even less affecting. Another criticism is that the flashy editing, use of freeze frames and crash zooms really did not add anything to the film other than distraction. This segment also features some of the worst CGI I have ever seen. It is as if they did not have time to finish rendering the special effects so we are left with zombies that have no texture at all making the final scenes laughable rather than terrifying.

‘Shutter’ director Banjong Pisanthanakun’s contribution to the film is ‘In The Middle’, a comedy horror following four teenage boys on a camping and white water rafting trip that turns to terror when one of the boys goes missing after their dinghy capsizes. Played mainly for laughs this section of the film is all about pop culture references from the character wearing an ‘E.T.’ t-shirt to discussions of films such as ‘Titanic’, ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘The Others’ and even the director’s own ‘Shutter’. The mere mention of some of these films will give an idea of the sort of twist ending to expect here and while it is amusing in places the film tries too hard to be clever and ends up feeling contrived. Having said that the characters are quite likeable and at least the laughs are intentional unlike in the previous segment.

The final story is from the other director of ‘Shutter’, Parkpoom Wongpoom. ‘Last Flight’ is an extremely creepy tale and is by far the best of all four in this anthology. We join the sole stewardess on a flight taking home the body of a deceased princess. During the flight the stewardess is haunted by the woman whose marriage she wrecked and who she accidentally killed on a previous flight. The claustrophobic nature of being alone on a plane is really emphasised in this effective example of short, horror filmmaking, there is literally nowhere to run. There are plenty of jumps and scares while the tension is maintained throughout. It is a little odd however, that the director chose to conform to the stereotype of the long, straight dark haired female ghost established in Japanese horror films ‘The Grudge’ and ‘The Ring’, an idea that his directing partner makes fun of in the third segment. ‘Last Flight’ stands out from the rest and delivers a most shocking and disturbing sequence of events bringing the anthology to a close.

The DVD is released by Icon Home Entertainment and offers three different sound track options, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 all in the original language. Picture quality is good and the subtitles clear throughout although in places very quick. The only special features on offer are a set of 12 minutes of interviews with the film’s quartet of directors as well as some of the stars looking at varying aspects of the film from the original idea and concept to a brief glimpse behind the scenes. The only other extra is the international theatrical trailer. It seems a shame that these are the only additional features on offer as during the interviews you get a real sense of infectious enthusiasm from all involved. It would have been good to hear a commentary track for each chapter, possibly even multiple commentaries with the directors’ assessing each others’ work.

On the whole I was slightly disappointed with ‘Phobia’; I did not think the four stories worked particularly well together and offered nothing new. Apart from the theme of fear there was no real connection between the films. The tonal shifts between chapters was jarring and goes some way to proving that anthology films can be a real hit and miss affair. It is only thanks to the first and final stories in the quartet that make the film worth a look at all. If you are a horror fan then there are elements to enjoy in the film and it probably works even better on DVD as you can just skip to the better chapters and enjoy them as standalone short films. The film actually proved popular enough in Thailand that a sequel ‘Phobia 2 (or ‘4bia 2’ as it is also known) was produced last year and instead of four stories takes on five so I would not necessarily declare the end of anthology films, I just don’t think we are going to see any great resurgence of the genre anytime soon.

(This review originally appeared on the 'Obsessed With Film' website, I am posting it again here in case you missed it!)

Here is the link if you want to see the original:

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/reviews/dvd-phobia.php

Better Than Chocolate? – A Review of ‘Raging Phoenix’

Following the Worldwide success of ‘Ong Bak 1 & 2’, ‘Warrior King’ and ‘Chocolate’, the latest martial arts spectacular from Thailand, ‘Raging Phoenix’ is released on DVD this month. Jija Yanin made such an impression in her explosive debut film ‘Chocolate’ she was dubbed “the female Tony Jaa (Star of ‘Ong Bak’)”. So I was really interested to see if her second starring role in ‘Raging Phoenix’ could repeat the excitement and intensity of that debut performance.

Jija Yanin stars as Deu, a down on her luck drummer thrown out of her band for fighting with an audience member. Her situation does not improve when she is the victim of an attempted kidnapping by the notorious Jaguar Gang only to be rescued by Sanim, a martial arts master who along with his own gang of misfits agree to train Deu in the ways of Mayraiyuth, an obscure drunken fighting technique. Together they uncover the Jaguar Gang’s plan to kidnap young women and extract their pheromones to create a rare aphrodisiac for the black market. Once her training is complete Deu and her new friends attempt to bring an end to the Jaguar Gang’s evil plan.

Ok, so the plot is pretty ludicrous but in a film like this the plot is usually secondary to how many fight scenes can they fit into the running time. In an interview with director Rashane Limtrakul on the DVD he states that his intention with this film was “to create a new kind of martial arts movie” and there is no denying that the dazzling array of martial arts on display here is extremely impressive and offers something that has not been seen before. He has managed to combine many different styles and techniques from Muay Thai and Drunken Boxing to more unusual forms such as B-Boy Dance fighting (a combination of Break dancing and Kung Fu) and Trickz (a blend of Karate, Capoeira, Tae Kwon Do and Gymnastics). The fight sequences, of which there are many, are expertly crafted and I particularly liked the fact that many involved long takes with minimal editing showcasing how well the fights were choreographed.

In addition to the martial arts, the film also incorporates a number of relatively new urban sports into the mix. Firstly, Parkour or Free Running, it was fairly inevitable that Parkour would find a place in the world of martial arts as the two sports have many similar characteristics, namely discipline, efficiency, speed and spatial awareness. Another excellent sequence near the beginning of the film sees Deu and Sanim caught in an ambush by a Powerbocking gang wearing modified bocks with bladed edges. Powerbocks originated in Germany and are essentially spring loaded stilts. This fight scene delivers some spectacular action and is really innovative and entertaining.

Director Rashane Limtrakul makes excellent use of stunning locations, in particular a beach training camp where Sanim mentors Deu in a beautifully shot training montage with sweeping camera moves, sharp editing and lens flare from a permanently setting sun. The use of slow motion during key scenes throughout the film emphasises the fact that there were no stunt doubles used and all the actors are doing their own stunts, a philosophy that has made Thai action films stand out from the crowd since the release of ‘Ong Bak’ in 2003. However, the use of wire work which was absent from ‘Ong Bak’ was very obvious in places and made some of the action a little less impressive but at least there was no CGI enhancement apart from wire removal.

This Special Collector’s Edition DVD is released through Cine Asia and is presented in a clean, crisp anamorphic widescreen transfer as you would expect for a recent film. The only soundtrack option is the original Thai version in Dolby Digital 5.1 with clearly presented English subtitles which may alienate the Steven Segal crowd but really it’s the only way to watch a movie of this kind. In addition the disc features around 40 minutes of interviews with the main cast, director and action director as well as B-roll footage of the action scene rehearsals. These extras are fairly standard and do not really offer much substance which is a little disappointing. I was also surprised that there was not an outtake reel, the staple of any good martial arts movie since the 80’s.

Overall the film proves that Jija Yanin is one to watch. She shows here as she did in ‘Chocolate’ that she is a world class martial artist giving Tony Jaa a good run for his money in the action stakes. If you like your martial arts movies to be fast and inventive then I would recommend ‘Raging Phoenix’, just forget about the plot and enjoy the action.

(This review originally appeared on the 'Obsessed With Film' website, I am posting it again here in case you missed it!)

Here is the link if you want to see the original:

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/reviews/raging-phoenix-on-dvd.php